C-J, Bingham Family Donate 3 Million Images to U of L Archives
Louisvillians being rescued from a roof during the 1937 Flood. Photos courtesy UofL Photo Archives/Barry Bingham Jr. Courier-Journal Photo Collection
Historians rejoice: The Courier Journal and its parent company Gannett have transferred its library of photographs and negatives, an estimated 3 million, to the U of L Archives and Special Collections.
Members of Louisville's Bingham family, which owned the Pulitzer-winning newspaper from 1918 to 1986, have made a separate donation to support the collection, including preserving it, preparing it for use by the public, and developing programming to enable the public to engage with it.
The donations will create the Barry Bingham Jr. Courier-Journal Photo Collection, announced U of L Interim President Lori Stewart Gonzalez in a news release. The unique journalistic collection holds local, state and national importance, and he collection doubles the size of U of L's photo holdings.
"We are incredibly grateful to the Courier-Journal, Gannett, Emily Bingham, Molly Bingham and the rest of the Bingham family for making this historic gift possible," Gonzalez said. "Generations of readers saw these photos in their daily newspaper each morning, and now, future generations will continue to be able to study and appreciate the insight they provide into the history of our city, state, nation and world."
"This gift will allow the Courier-Journal to retain the legacy of our work through this collection of historic photographs," said Courier-Journal Editor Mary Irby-Jones. "It is important for us to preserve and share our work with others so our community can learn about the history of Louisville as captured through our photographers in the field for more than 150 years."
Barry Bingham Jr.
"For most of a decade, it has been our dream to honor our father by finding a permanent, public home for the Courier-Journal's photographic collection," said Emily and Molly Bingham in a statement about Barry Bingham Jr. "This visual treasure is a testament to his dedication to high-quality journalism, his passion for photography, his love of archives and his commitment to public access to information. He is up there somewhere today, smiling and joyfully twirling his trademark handlebar mustache."
The collection, consisting of images created by the photo department that served both the C-J and the afternoon Louisville Times newspapers, chronicles daily happenings and major events from approximately the mid-1930s to the early 2000s when digital photography began to replace the use of film to capture images. It might have dated back further, but the Great Flood of 1937 destroyed much of the newspaper's photo and negative library.
"The collection chronicles the civil rights movement, World War II, the Kentucky Derby through the years, presidential visits, changes in the built environment, and numerous public appearances and behind-the-scenes images of world leaders and celebrities," said Archives and Special Collections Director Carrie Daniels. "Basically, all of the changes happening within our country were captured in these photographs."
"It's an incredible collection," Elizabeth Reilly, photo archivist, said, "and with any large-scale acquisition like this, it will take years to process, organize and add information to the collection, to make images discoverable and usable by the public.”
A portion of the collection will be available online in the near future, Reilly said, and more and more parts of the collection to the public will be released over time. Reilly credited Barry Bingham Jr., the third and last Bingham family member to serve as the paper's publisher, for his devotion to setting high standards for the photography his newspaper published. The Courier-Journal won two Pulitzer Prizes for photojournalism during his tenure.
Daniels cited the increase in scholarship and creative potential that the collection will bring to UofL: "Our Photographic Archives already contain 2-3 million historical, documentary and fine art images dating from the 19th century to today that capture faces, buildings, landscapes and events from around the world, with a focus on Louisville and Kentucky. These images have appeared in scholarly or artistic work, including filmmaker Ken Burns' documentaries, Dustbowl, Prohibition and Baseball. This dramatically increases our ability to provide images that everyone, including scholars and artists, will be able to use going forward, and we are very excited about that."
The Barry Bingham Jr. Courier-Journal Photo Collection Endowment is seeking additional contributions to support the organization, digitization, library services and public programming for this remarkable resource. To make a contribution or for more information, contact Denise Bohn, denise.bohn@louisville.edu.
